Asana

When an organisation uses Asana across several departments, it is easy to feel swamped by dozens of project boards, frequent Inbox notifications, and colleagues who lay out work in different ways.

Two built-in features make Asana much calmer to manage. First, every task assigned to you across projects in your current workspace or organisation appears automatically in one personal list called My Tasks (if your account belongs to more than one workspace or organisation, use your profile menu to switch between them). Second, if a colleague sets up a project as a Kanban board or timeline that feels visually busy, you can click the List tab at the top of the project to view the same tasks as a linear table.

You can navigate Asana using the left sidebar and toolbar buttons, or speed up routine actions with Asana's two-key Tab shortcuts (hold Tab and press the letter while your cursor is not inside a text-editing field; if you use a screen reader, make sure it is in focus/application interaction mode when sending app shortcuts):

• Open My Tasks (Tab + Z): Click My Tasks in the left sidebar, or press Tab + Z, to view tasks assigned to you in the current workspace or organisation.
• Open the Asana Inbox (Tab + I): Click Inbox in the left sidebar, or press Tab + I, to review @mentions, status updates, and newly assigned work.
• Quick-add a task (Tab + Q): Click + Create → Task at the top left (or press Tab + Q), type the task title, assign it to yourself (Tab + M), set a due date (Tab + D), click Create task to save it, and check that the new task appears in My Tasks.
• Open and close Task Details (Tab + Enter and Esc): Select a task row and click it (or press Tab + Enter) to open the right-hand Task Details pane for descriptions, subtasks, and comments. Press Esc to close the side pane when you want a wider view.
• Complete or move a selected task: First select the task row itself (rather than typing inside a text field), then press Ctrl + Enter (Cmd + Enter on Mac) to mark it complete, or Ctrl + Shift + Up/Down Arrow (Cmd + Shift + Up/Down Arrow on Mac) to move it between sections.
• Check the shortcut reference anytime: Press Ctrl + / (Cmd + / on Mac) inside Asana to display the full keyboard shortcut sheet.

• Try List view first. Asana's own accessibility guidance recommends starting with List view when using a screen reader or keyboard navigation, as it presents tasks, assignees, and due dates in rows and columns rather than spatial cards. Use the column options menu to hide extra fields you do not need.
• Close side panels when reading. Having the left sidebar, the middle task list, and the right-hand Task Details pane open together narrows the middle of the screen. Collapse the left sidebar and press Esc to close the right-hand details pane once you finish reading a task.
• Keep key instructions in the Description field. Ask colleagues to put the brief and important links at the top of the task's Description box rather than burying them halfway down a long comment thread.

• My Tasks has dozens of unsorted items. Create three sections using Add section (or Tab + N): Today, This Week, and Later. To move tasks automatically as deadlines approach, click Customize → Automations → Add automation in the top-right corner of My Tasks, choose the Due date is approaching preset (available on Personal as well as paid tiers; wider custom rules require eligible paid plans), select how many days before (or on) the due date the task should move, choose your destination section (such as Today), and confirm the automation is active. Note that due-date automations run overnight rather than instantaneously.
• Subtasks get overlooked. Subtasks do not automatically appear in the main project list or inherit the parent task's assignee or due date. If a subtask has its own owner or deadline, open the subtask details pane to assign and date it explicitly (and add it to the project if it needs to show in the main list). Many teams keep subtasks for personal checklists inside a task they already own, and use top-level tasks for shared deadlines.
• Too many notifications across email and Asana. Reduce routine email alerts in Settings → Notifications and review updates inside your Asana Inbox (Tab + I) at set times. Archive individual notifications after reviewing them (avoid clicking Archive All after reading just one item, as that clears unread updates too), and click Leave task (or press Tab + L inside a task) on threads you no longer need to follow.

1. Sign in to Asana and open My Tasks from the left sidebar (or press Tab + Z).
2. Create a section called Today using Add section (or Tab + N).
3. Click + Add task, type Practice task — review weekly priorities, set today's date in the Due date column, and press Enter to save the row.
4. Click the task to open the right-hand Task Details pane, add a short note in the Description box, and press Esc to close the side pane.
5. Select the task row and click the completion tick (or press Ctrl + Enter on Windows / Cmd + Enter on Mac) to mark the practice task complete.

• Views in My Tasks (and switching workspaces or organisations)
• Automations in My Tasks
• Creating tasks in Asana
• Official Asana keyboard shortcuts
• Tasks and subtasks in Asana
• Asana overview for screen-reader users